Pipe racks

ABSTRACT

A structure includes two legs, a horizontal support, and an adhesive. Each of the two legs includes at least one aperture. The horizontal support has two ends. A first end is located in an aperture in a first leg of the two legs and a second end of the horizontal support is located in an aperture in a second leg of the two legs. The first end of the horizontal support has a cross-sectional area that is less than a cross-sectional area of the aperture in the first leg and the second end of the horizontal support has a cross-sectional area that is less than a cross-sectional area of the aperture in the second leg. The adhesive is within each aperture and in contact with the horizontal support.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to and is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/689,589, filed Apr. 17, 2015, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/306,326, filed Jun.11, 2014, each of which is incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present subject matter relates generally to racks for supportingpipes, especially pipes at a refinery.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Oil refineries include many chemical processing units, each removing oneor more hydrocarbons from a mixture of many. Extensive piping runsbetween all of these processing units and various holding tanks. Thispiping is generally supported off the ground by steel racks. Eachsection of rack including two legs and at least one horizontal supportbar is generally called a bent.

A first problem that arises with the present pipe racks is that if oneof the pipes leaks liquid or gas that catches fire, an intense fire cancause the steel bent to lose its structural integrity. This will thencause the rest of the pipes on that bent to lose support, possiblyrupturing the other pipes as well. This can cause a single leak to turninto a catastrophic fire and/or explosion. Thus, racks impervious tofire would avoid this problem.

Further, the location and orientation of each bent is very important toensure the correct support of the pipe, including the correct slope tothe pipe (if any). Steel bents require that the foundation of each legbe determined very accurately to ensure accurate placement of the bent.This is very time consuming, leading to greater cost and delay whenbuilding the refinery. Accordingly, a pipe rack that can be placedwithout such additional labor is desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention broadly comprises a pipe rack and a method formaking a pipe rack. In one embodiment, the pipe rack may include twolegs, a horizontal support, and an adhesive. Each of the two legsincludes at least one aperture. The horizontal support has two ends. Afirst end is located in an aperture in a first leg of the two legs and asecond end of the horizontal support is located in an aperture in asecond leg of the two legs. The first end of the horizontal support hasa cross-sectional area that is less than a cross-sectional area of theaperture in the first leg and the second end of the horizontal supporthas a cross-sectional area that is less than a cross-sectional area ofthe aperture in the second leg. The adhesive is within each aperture andin contact with the horizontal support.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A full and enabling disclosure of the present subject matter, includingthe best mode thereof, directed to one of ordinary skill in the art, isset forth in the specification, which makes reference to the appendedfigures, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a first embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a close up perspective view of a horizontal strut;

FIG. 4 is a top cutaway view of the joint between the leg and thehorizontal support;

FIG. 5 is a side view of a first embodiment of the joint between the legand the horizontal support;

FIG. 6 is top view of the insertion process for inserting the horizontalsupport into the two legs; and

FIG. 7 is a side view of a second embodiment of the joint between theleg and the horizontal support.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference is presently made in detail to exemplary embodiments of thepresent subject matter, one or more examples of which are illustrated inor represented by the drawings. Each example is provided by way ofexplanation of the present subject matter, not limitation of the presentsubject matter. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the artthat various modifications and variations can be made in the presentsubject matter without departing from the scope or spirit of the presentsubject matter. For instance, features illustrated or described as partof one embodiment can be used with another embodiment to yield a stillfurther embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present subject mattercovers such modifications and variations as come within the scope of thedisclosure and equivalents thereof.

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a first embodiment of an apparatus 10for supporting pipes in accordance with the present invention. Apparatus10 may also support other equipment such as power lines, or otherobjects. Further, as described herein, apparatus 10 is made ofpre-stressed concrete so as to be impervious to fire. However, piperacks as described herein made of other materials such as other fireimpervious materials are also within the scope of the present invention.

Apparatus 10 includes foundations 20, legs 30 located on foundations 20,horizontal supports 40, and horizontal struts 50 (shown in close up inFIG. 3). In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, foundations 20 may be placedapproximately 20 feet apart in the direction of the pipe, andapproximately 25 feet apart in the direction perpendicular to thedirection of the pipe. However, different or irregular distances arealso within the scope of the invention.

FIG. 1 also shows that legs 30 have four apertures 32 for receivinghorizontal supports 40, two of which include horizontal supports 40. Anynumber of apertures 32 or horizontal supports 40 are within the scope ofthe invention. Further, any number or length of horizontal struts 50 arealso within the scope of the invention.

FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of the present invention, apparatus110. Apparatus 110 includes foundations 20 placed at double the spacingshown in FIG. 1. Apparatus 110 also includes legs 30, horizontalsupports 40, and horizontal struts 150. However, horizontal support 40may also be supported by horizontal struts 150 at locations equidistantbetween foundations 20. Thus, the same spacing of horizontal supports 30is maintained, while the number of foundations 20 is halved. This candramatically increase construction speed, as laying the foundations canbe very labor intensive.

Horizontal supports 40 may be joined to horizontal struts 150 and legs30 by either of the joining methods shown in FIGS. 5 and 7.

FIG. 4 shows a cut away top view of the joint between leg 30 andhorizontal support 40. Leg 30 may have pre-stress strands 34 extendingin the vertical direction. Both the inside of aperture 32 and theoutside of the portion of horizontal support 40 that is received inaperture 32 may include shear key surfaces 31 and 41 to strengthen theadhesive bond between leg 30 and horizontal support 40. The volumebetween leg 30 and horizontal support 40 is filled with an adhesive 36,which may be an ultra-high performance concrete or grout. In oneembodiment, leg 30 is 36 inches wide and 30 inches long (in thedirection of the horizontal support 40).

FIG. 5 shows a side view of a first embodiment of the joint between leg30 and horizontal support 40. In this embodiment, horizontal support 40is surrounded on all sides by adhesive 36. The only gap in adhesive 36is due to steel shim 38. In one embodiment, horizontal support 40 is 18by 32 inches, and steel shim 38 is 4 by 4 inches in area and 2 inchesthick. Thus, the steel shim lifts the horizontal support 40 off of thebottom of aperture 32 before the adhesive 36 is added to the spacebetween the leg 30 and the horizontal support 40. Tins allows for aroughly even thickness of adhesive 36 around the four sides of thehorizontal support 40. Horizontal support 40 may also include pre-stressstrands 42 extending in the horizontal direction.

Accordingly, aperture 32 is significantly bigger than horizontal support40. For example, aperture 32 may be 22 by 36 inches and support 40 maybe 18 by 32 inches. Thus, roughly 2 inches of space on each side can befound between the aperture 32 and horizontal support 40. This equates tolateral dimensions of support 40 being 81-89% as big as thecorresponding lateral dimensions of aperture 32. Supports 40 havingdimensions from 50%-90% of the corresponding dimension of aperture 32are within the scope of the invention. Further, cross-sectional areas ofthe support 40 are from 40%-75% of the cross-sectional area of aperture32.

This space allows for significant adjustment of the configuration of thesupport 40 when connecting the support 40 to legs 30. Therefore, thelocation of foundations 20 does not need to be exact, as errors can becorrected by adjusting the amount of space between the support 40 andthe aperture 32. The two inch allowance on each side of the support 40described above allows for correcting errors of up to approximately 1.75inches in the placement of foundations 20. In contrast, foundations forsteel bents must be placed within a tolerance of 0.5 inches or less.Moreover, the present inventors discovered that there is a 1:0.9 ratioof the distance allowance between the support 40 and the aperture 32 andthe distance tolerance for the foundations 20.

In this regard, FIGS. 1 and 2 show foundations 20, legs 30, horizontalsupport, and apertures 32 that are rectangular prisms. However, anyother shapes or cross-sectional shapes for the foundations 20, legs 30,horizontal supports 40, struts 50, and apertures 32 are within the scopeof the invention.

FIG. 6 shows the process for constructing the present pipe racks. Thefoundations 20 are already placed and the legs 30 are inserted therein.The horizontal supports 40 are then inserted into the apertures 32 byinserting end 40A into aperture 32A, drawing the support 40 into theaperture 32A until the end 40B clears the opposite leg, and then movingthe opposite end 40B into the aperture 32B of the opposite leg.

FIG. 7 shows a second embodiment of the joint between leg 30 andhorizontal support 40. In this embodiment, aperture 32 is much longer inthe height direction than support 40. Horizontal support 40 is thensurrounded on only three sides by adhesive 36. (A steel shim may be usedas shown in FIG. 5). Then an additional portion of concrete 39 is pouredinto the aperture 32 above the support 40. As shown in FIG. 7,reinforcement 39A can be placed in aperture 32 before pouring theadditional concrete. The concrete portion 39 thus locks support 40 intoplace, while leaving the upper part of aperture 32 open. This additionalspace allows for even greater adjustment of the support 40 in thevertical direction. The vertical adjustment may be critical when thefoundations 20 are being placed on ground that may be uneven.

Accordingly, pipe racks that are impervious to fire may be constructedwith less labor and more adjustability, reducing cost and improvingperformance. Therefore, a substantial cost savings may be gained byusing the present method and apparatus for constructing pipe racks.

The present written description uses examples to disclose the presentsubject matter, including the best mode, and also to enable any personskilled in the art to practice the present subject matter, includingmaking and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporatedand/or associated methods. While the present subject matter has beendescribed in detail with respect to specific embodiments thereof, itwill be appreciated that those skilled in the art, upon attaining anunderstanding of the foregoing may readily produce alterations to,variations of, and equivalents to such embodiments. Accordingly, thescope of the present disclosure is by way of example rather than by wayof limitation, and the subject disclosure does not preclude inclusion ofsuch modifications, variations and/or additions to the present subjectmatter as would be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art.

1. A structure comprising: two legs, each of the two legs including atleast one aperture; a horizontal support having two ends, a first endlocated in an aperture in a first leg of the two legs and a second endof the horizontal support being located in an aperture in a second legof the two legs, the first end of the horizontal support having across-sectional area that is less than a cross-sectional area of theaperture in the first leg and the second end of the horizontal supporthaving a cross-sectional area that is less than a cross-sectional areaof the aperture in the second leg; and an adhesive within each apertureand in contact with the horizontal support.
 2. The structure accordingto claim 1, wherein the two legs and the horizontal support are all madeof pre-stressed concrete.
 3. The structure according to claim 1, whereina cross-sectional area of the first end of the horizontal support is40-75% of a cross-sectional area of the aperture in the first leg. 4.The structure according to claim 1, wherein the adhesive is a grout. 5.The structure according to claim 1, wherein the adhesive is locatedaround all sides of the horizontal support.
 6. The structure accordingto claim 1, wherein the horizontal support has a rectangular sidecross-section, and adhesive is located around only three sides of thehorizontal support.
 7. The structure according to claim 6, whereinconcrete is located along a fourth side of the horizontal support. 8.The structure according to claim 1, further comprising: a second set oftwo legs; a horizontal strut extending between a first leg of the twolegs and a first leg of the second set of two legs.
 9. The structureaccording to claim 8, further comprising: a second horizontal strutextending between a second leg of the two legs and a second leg of thesecond set of two; and a second horizontal support having two ends, afirst end of the second horizontal support being located in an aperturein the horizontal strut and a second end of the second horizontalsupport being located in an aperture in the second horizontal strut. 10.A method for constructing a structure: placing two legs, each of the twolegs including at least one aperture; inserting a first end of ahorizontal support into an aperture in a first leg of the two legs and asecond end of the horizontal support into an aperture in a second leg ofthe two legs, the first end of the horizontal support having across-sectional area that less than a cross-sectional area of theaperture in the first leg and the second end of the horizontal supporthaving a cross-sectional area that is less than a cross-sectional areaof the aperture in the second leg; and inserting an adhesive into eachaperture.
 11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the adhesive isa grout.
 12. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:pouring concrete into each aperture over a top side of the horizontalsupport.
 13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the pouringconcrete does not completely fill each aperture with concrete.
 14. Themethod according to claim 12, further comprising: insertingreinforcement strands into each aperture above the top side of thehorizontal support before the pouring concrete.
 15. The method accordingto claim 11, further comprising: placing a second set of two legs;providing a horizontal strut extending between a first leg of the twolegs and a first leg of the second set of two legs.
 16. The methodaccording to claim 10, further comprising: placing a second horizontalstrut extending between a second leg of the two legs and a second leg ofthe second set of two; and inserting a second horizontal support havingtwo ends into apertures in the horizontal strut and the secondhorizontal strut such that a first end of the second horizontal supportis located in an aperture in the horizontal strut and a second end ofthe second horizontal support is located in an aperture in the secondhorizontal strut.
 17. A structure comprising: two legs, each of the twolegs including at least one aperture; a horizontal support having twoends, a first end located in an aperture in a first leg of the two legsand a second end of the horizontal support being located in an aperturein a second leg of the two legs, the first end of the horizontal supporthaving a cross-sectional area that is less than a cross-sectional areaof the aperture in the first leg and the second end of the horizontalsupport having a cross-sectional area that is less than across-sectional area of the aperture in the second leg; and a concretelayer within each aperture and in contact with the horizontal support.18. The structure according to claim 17, wherein the concrete layer doesnot completely fill each aperture.
 19. The structure according to claim17, further comprising: a reinforcement strand within each apertureabove the top side of the horizontal support, each end of thereinforcement strand penetrating opposite sides of the aperture and thereinforcement strand running through the concrete layer.
 20. Thestructure according to claim 17, further comprising: an adhesive layerin the aperture around sides and a bottom of the horizontal support,wherein the concrete layer is in contact with a top of the horizontalsupport.